Big Data and Cloud Computing Present Opportunities, Challenges

May 22, 2013

By Max Cacas

The term “big data” means different things to different people. To a bank, big data represents the ability to gain business intelligence from financial transactions. To the United States intelligence community, big data’s challenge comes in trying to sift through information from multiple environments in support of the warfighter.

John Marshall, senior information systems technologist for the Joint Staff Intelligence Directorate (J-2), Joint Chiefs of Staff, said big data includes information being captured constantly by more than 50 million mobile devices, and “the question is, how do we successfully mine through that data for those nuggets that my colleagues and I need?” He appeared on a panel, “Big Data and the Evolving Enterprise,” at the the AFCEA SOLUTIONS Series – George Mason University Symposium, “Critical Issues in C4I."

The second panel of the day focused on an examination of cloud computing. Frank Konieczny, chief technology officer, Office of Information Dominance, and chief information officer, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, reminded attendees that in his office, the promise of cloud computing is an empty one if it does not fulfill Air Force mission requirements and help airmen to meet the mission.

Fellow panelist Geoffrey Raines, a cloud infrastructure engineer for the MITRE Corporation's National Security Engineering Center, noted that significant challenges remain on the road to cloud computing in the Defense Department; among them, portability and interoperability; risks associated with data center consolidation; and managing cost expectations, which have been widely touted as a benefit of cloud computing.

Share Your Thoughts:

Agree with Mr. Geoffrey Raines, we already know that Cloud is cost effective and less risk factor compare to others. Yesterday I saw a graph status of Worldwide Cloud users that shows mostly users are using cloud technology on their E-Business.

Max, nice read. Cloud computing is driving a new wave of innovation in the area of big data. The open source solution from HPCC Systems provides a single platform that is easy to install, manage and code. Designed by data scientists, HPCC Systems is a data intensive supercomputer that has evolved for more than a decade, with enterprise customers who need to process large volumes of data in a 24/7 environment. Its Thor Data Refinery Cluster, which is responsible for ingesting vast amounts of data, transforming, linking and indexing that data, and its Roxie Data Delivery Cluster are now offered on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform. Taking advantage of HPCC Systems in the cloud provides a powerful combination designed to make Big Data Analytics computing easier for developers and can be launched and configured with the click of a button through their Instant Cloud solution. More at http://hpccsystems.com